Attack of the Plant Men!

Yikes! I barely escaped alive after risking life and limb to snap this pic of one of the marauding horde that has invaded our...parsley pot.

This last weekend while working on the porch (we're scraping all the old paint off, heat gun in one hand and scraper in the other, prior to repainting the floor), I took a moment off to water the various potted plants scattered about. That's when I saw them!

Gigantic, hideous green and yellow monsters! All of an inch long! Eating merrily away at our potted parsley! (Yeah, who grows parsley - well, we do. In our geranium pots, if you must know. They look very nice together.)

A quick check of the old Audubon field guide told us that these are probably the caterpillar stage of the Anise Swallowtail butterfly. And that they like parsley. We decided we had enough to share.

First day we counted six. Next only four. But bigger now. Next day only three. Still getting bigger. And the other night, as a tremendous electrical storm broke in the sky south of us, there were only two. And twice as big as the day before.

Today, there are none. We can assume only that their alien overlords have called them home, postponing their devastating attack on planet Earth for a year with more parsley. I think the storm was cover for the approaching mothership. Or they have cocooned themselves somewhere...waiting, waiting, waiting. It gives me the shivers to think about it.

I promise we'll be on the lookout and let you know of any further developments in this breaking story. THIS is what the blogosphere was made for!